Should international non-governmental organizations (iNGO) be allowed to act anywhere, at any cost - Essay Example

t equaling, the enlarging role of inter-governmental associations in the political field and the expeditious globalization of commerce in the economic sphere. However, with the growing influence of INGOs on an international level, a number of controversies associated with misuse of power, liability and legitimacy issues, and corruption charges in some of the reputed INGOs have triggered widespread debate over the role and credibility of INGOs (Ritchie & Rice, 1995). International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) are non-profit voluntary organizations operating at the multinational or global level with participants from various countries.

These organizations are involved in various activities which include analysis, advocacy, and awareness raising, conflict resolution, brokerage, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation at the regional, community, state, and global level (INGOs, 2008). Even though the popular INGOs concentrate on human rights (for instance, Amnesty International), disaster relief (the Red Cross), the environmental issues (Friends of the Earth), majority of INGOs are from scientific, industrial, professional, business, and medical sphere (INGOs, 2008).

A large number of INGOs is also active in recreation, sports, women’s rights, education, and many other fields. The number of active INGOs has increased dramatically from mere 840 in 1940s to more than 20000 in 2006 (INGOs, 2008). Basically, INGOs are not elected entities, are not answerable to the public, and are not based on the principle of democratic representation. Due to the lack of international system of regulation and accreditation of INGOs under global acts, these organizations enjoy excessive freedom of action (Ben-Ari, 2013).

As a result, anywhere, anyone can set up an INGO and begin publishing reports that would be later relied on by the international institutions and tribunals, the media, or by national organizations and courts (Ben-Ari, 2013). Many experts emphasize on the